The CEO of Evernote, Ian Small, says that he’s committed to fixing a long list of problems with the note-taking app this year. In 2018, the company cut 15 percent of its staff and lost many top executives as a result of these issues, but now Small says he promises to create a “more coherent, more consistent Evernote experience for every version of the product we ship.” He’ll focus on restructuring the way the company designs and delivers software updates and on overhauling the core infrastructure that powers the app. (Source: Venture Beat)

Why this is important for your business:

This story came at an opportune time for me because I’ve been recently thinking of moving away from Evernote at my company to another group note-taking application. I’ve been getting complaints of poor performance, glitches and an outdated interface. Given Small’s promises above, though, I’m going to stick it out for another few months and hope to see enough fixes to make me a fan again.

2 — LendingFront raises $4M in funds to modernize small business lending.

Newark, New Jersey–based small business lending software provider LendingFront has announced it raised a $4 million, Series A funding round to help modernize small business lending with a cloud lending software program. The company says it will use the funding to provide banks and financial institutions access to LendingFront’s underwriting and SMB credit technology under its end-to-end white label software platform and also to expand the company’s sales, marketing and engineering teams. (Source: ROI-NJ)

Why this is important for your business:

Companies like LendingFront are using cloud based technologies to speed up the approval and the administrative process of loan management for its banking customers. If you’re a business owner, just know that this technology exists, is common and is growing in use among financial institutions who make it a priority to provide fast service while keeping costs down. If your bank is still awash in paper and operating like it’s the 1990’s it may be time to reconsider your long term financial relationship with them.

3 — New features for Microsoft Teams chat app further company’s push to woo retail and service workers.

In an effort to become the tech provider of choice for first-line workers in industries such as retail, hospitality and manufacturing, Microsoft is offering a set of new features for its collaboration app, Teams. The features, which build on a capability unveiled in 2018 that lets employees manage and swap schedules, are designed to help workers better communicate with each other and to allow companies to manage access to important information and give feedback. (Source: Geek Wire)

Why this is important for your business:

The features will include a better and more customizable mobile interface that will have location sharing, a smart camera and the ability to record and share audio messages as well as templates, APIs and a feature called "Praise" which will allow employees to give each other shout-outs. If this is the kind of stuff that interests you - and it should - then it may be worthwhile to take a harder look at Microsoft Teams. Particularly if you already own Office!

4 — The Lapscreen is a paper-thin 12.5-inch USB-C monitor you can take anywhere.

At CES 2019, a new USB-C monitor called Lapscreen was introduced. Just 8mm thick and measuring 11.1 by 8.3, it can run entirely off a single cable plugged into the user’s phone or laptop. (Source: The Verge)

Why this is important for your business:

A very cool product for the business traveler. It is nearly as thin as a few sheets of paper stacked together, and the chin at the bottom, which houses the ports and components, is also incredibly slim. The display is a standard 1080p panel—an ultralight extra display that users can literally stick in a folder or laptop case. Unfortunately, though, the Lapscreen has no option for a built-in stand on the back.

5 — Apple cuts 1Q production for new iPhones by 10 pct.

Citing China’s slowing economy as the reason for weaker iPhone sales, Apple has reduced production for its three new iPhone models by about 10 percent for the January-March quarter, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. China, of course, has been impacted by a trade war with the United States. In late December, Apple asked its suppliers to produce fewer-than-planned units of its XS, XS Max and XR models. In addition, higher prices for the new iPhones have been a concern for analysts and consumers. (Source: Fox Business)

Why this is important for your business:

Do you think it’s just China? Hmmm. No knock on Apple and its fantastic iPhone, but my company uses Android-based smartphones and tablets because they’re less expensive, more flexible and do pretty much the same things as Apple products. I think the popularity of iPhone competitors is a big reason why iPhone orders have fell and I expect to see this trend continue for the foreseeable future.

Gene Marks is a CPA and owns The Marks Group PC, a technology consulting firm based near Philadelphia.